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Top 10 Heaviest Adventure Bikes

 What do you get (besides weight) when you cross the 500-pound threshold?

Published on 05.31.2016

Anyone who rides off-road will tell you that weight is your enemy. But the big adventure bike segment just keeps growing, and sales figures attest to the fact that riders like these mega machines. What’s the appeal?

Actually, there’s a lot to like about big, modern adventure bikes. They’re comfortable and stable on pavement, and perfectly capable of gobbling up hundreds of miles in a day. They excel at two-up riding, and thanks to sophisticated electronics that help keep things under control, they’re even getting pretty good in the dirt.

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Below we take a look at the 10 heaviest adventure bikes on the market today, lightest first, counting down to the heaviest.

10. Honda Africa Twin DCT

The newest offering also happens to be the lightest on this list. Honda’s Africa Twin combines balanced street performance with surprising competence in the dirt, thanks to a low center of gravity, 21″/18″ wheel set, fully-adjustable suspension and the aid of technological wizardry including switchable ABS, traction control and an optional automatic transmission that can shift more smoothly than most riders. That last feature is what puts the Honda on this list at all; the DCT model is the heaviest Africa Twin. However, the standard-shift model, with ABS, weighs in at 511 pounds and falls off our list.

In the interest of fairness we note that Honda’s Crossrunner VFR800X weighs in at the exact same 534 pounds. That bike, however, is really a retuned and restyled VFR800. The Crossrunner is considered an Adventure Bike by Honda but falls more towards the Sport Touring range in all-road capability.

9. KTM 1290 Super Adventure

KTM took the engine from Super Duke R and wrapped it in a premium package aimed squarely at the high end of the adventure bike market. The 1290’s list of electronic wizardry is long: active suspension, ride modes, ABS, hill-holding control and engine-braking control. The result is a bike that is so electronically tunable that it is just as capable of sailing down the interstates as it is hanging out the back end on a dirt road. Turn off all the controls and it will yank your arms out of their sockets.

8. Kawasaki Versys 1000 LT

Count the big Versys, which only landed in the U.S. last year, among the sport-touring-oriented models in this list thanks in part to its 17-inch cast wheels. What it does offer is smooth power from a retuned Ninja powerplant, good weather protection, traction control, two power modes, ABS and fully-adjustable suspension. At $12,799, it’s also a bargain in this category.

7. Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro

The standard Multistrada was updated for 2016 to make it more dirt worthy and improve its range. Ducati claims to have made 260-plus changes, including a 19-inch spoke front wheel, upgraded suspension front and rear with more travel, recalibrated software to make it more dirt friendly, bigger gas tank, wider handlebars, a new seat, etc. Combined with a suite of electronic controls and ride modes, the changes make the new Multistrada an adventure bike that can take you nearly anywhere in comfort, regardless of road surface.

6. BMW R1200GS Adventure

BMW’s GS lineup has always been off-road capable. In the case of the GSA, its low center of gravity and host of electronic aides (traction control, ABS, and an engine mode designed specifically to work with knobby tires) mean it can do impressive things in the right hands for its size. The tunable suspension allows for everything from plush highway cruising to two-track bashing, and the 7.9 gallon tank easily gives the GSA 300-plus miles of range.

28 thoughts on “Top 10 Heaviest Adventure Bikes”

There are a lot of nice bike but my Honda NC700 is a great bike I wouldn’t trade it for anything g. I can’t believe the NC700 didn’t make the list. I love the storage it has. Putting the gas tank under the seat to even out the weight is nice and having the so called gas take as storage for a helmet or other thing is a big bonus. I love the design of the NC 700 couldn’t be a better bike

To be fair, these numbers can vary based on fuel tank size and extras, luggage, crash bars, engine guards. Even ABS adds weight. For example: The Africa Twin doesn’t have crash bars or bag mounts. Take away the DCT and the exact same bike doesn’t make the list. To be fair I think the weight should be bike minus the fuel load and minus add on features. Level the field. I also don’t always believe what the Manuf. Claim. You reviewers should put the bike on scales and give us the True Weight….

@nose2wind – “take away the dct and the same exact bike doesnt make the list”. come on, that is a different model with manual transmission!!! and the article already mentions the manual model is lighter and doesnt make the list. and no fair because some have abs?? so you want a comparison with made up bikes manufacturers dont offer lol.

Not a very fair assessment, if the bike comes with panniers as stock they were included in the weight. If an option, they didn’t… so I.e. the Caponord RALLY which comes w/ PANNIERS, crash bars, skid plate, led driving lights in the weight and these are options on other bikes so they weren’t included.

There’s so much marketing about the electronics on these bikes, I’d even go so far as to say this article (and many others) kind of smear together the concept of weight and sophisticated electronics as though traction control modes etc are in ANY way a consolation for the shear heft of these things in sand, for instance, or when they’re laying on their side in a ditch and you need three people to pick it up, or a truck to pull it out…when it comes to riding monster weight bikes off-road, weight is 99% of the problem, traction control etc is like 1%. Heavy bikes are pigs off-road, electronic packages are lipstick at best.

Great article! Some people just like to complain about everything. Even complain about ABS on some bikes?? Show me a GSA or a KTM 1290 without ABS, because I don’t know where you can buy one. That is a meaningless scenario since those bikes don’t exist without it. What I care about are stats of actual bikes manufacturers offer. Not stripped down make-believe bikes manufacturers don’t make.

Pretty useless and wrong data.. I own an Aprilia caponord and the weight with bags is 580 lbs. you. Panniers and rack or mounting hardware adds at least 30 lbs… BMW listed the 1200 GS with 510 lbs but when put on the weighing scale it was more like 540 lbs without panniers. Guys get a weighing scale and describe better details i. e. a center stang weighs about 10 lbs, crash bars, engine protection etc.